title: Development of an advanced mobile base for personal mobility and manipulation appliance generation II robotic wheelchair.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This paper describes the development of a mobile base for the Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance Generation II (PerMMA Gen II robotic wheelchair), an obstacle-climbing wheelchair able to move in structured and unstructured environments, and to climb over curbs as high as 8 inches. The mechanical, electrical, and software systems of the mobile base are presented in detail, and similar devices such as the iBOT mobility system, TopChair, and 6X6 Explorer are described.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mobile base of PerMMA Gen II has two operating modes: "advanced driving mode" on flat and uneven terrain, and "automatic climbing mode" during stair climbing. The different operating modes are triggered either by local and dynamic conditions or by external commands from users. A step-climbing sequence, up to 0.2 m, is under development and to be evaluated via simulation. The mathematical model of the mobile base is introduced. A feedback and a feed-forward controller have been developed to maintain the posture of the passenger when driving over uneven surfaces or slopes. The effectiveness of the controller has been evaluated by simulation using the open dynamics engine tool.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future work for PerMMA Gen II mobile base is implementation of the simulation and control on a real system and evaluation of the system via further experimental tests.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA. how11@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Hongwu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Candiotti
authors.forename: Motoki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shino
authors.forename: Cheng-Shiu
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Garrett G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Grindle
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Rory A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004607:Elevators and Escalators; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012984:Software; D014910:Wheelchairs